Abstract
My favorite things in life are cats 🐈, computers 🖥 and crappy ideas 💩, so I decided to combine all three and make an IoT (Internet of Things) litter box using a Raspberry Pi and JavaScript! If you have ever wanted to build your own IoT project, but didn’t know how to start, then this is the talk for you.
Together, we are going through how I set up my IoT Litter Box from start to finish. Including how to setup Node.js on a Raspberry Pi, how to connect sensors to a Raspberry Pi, and how to read the sensor inputs with Node.js.
Slides
Video
Project Link
joekarlsson.github.io/iot-kitty-litter-box-frontend
Source Code
joekarlsson.github.io/iot-kitty-litter-box-frontend/
Additional Resources
- IoT and JS(?!): A Gentle Introduction to the Internet of Things
- IoT Reference Architecture
- Time Series Data and MongoDB: Best Practices Guide
- MongoDB University
About Joe Karlsson
I am a software engineer turned Developer Advocate at MongoDB. I come from the frozen tundra of Minneapolis, Minnesota (and yes, it does get really cold here, and no, not everyone here has the accent from the movie, Fargo). I've been primarily a Node and JavaScript engineer and have been writing, teaching, and talking about code my entire career. Sharing what I know and continuing to learn about programming is truly the thing I love doing the most.
- Twitter - @JoeKarlsson1
- GitHub - @JoeKarlsson
- LinkedIn - /in/joekarlsson
- TikTok - @JoeKarlsson
- Website - joekarlsson.com
Here is a download link to the talk slides (PDF)
This talk will be presented as part of CodeLand:Distributed on July 23. After the talk is streamed as part of the conference, it will be added to this post as a recorded video.
Top comments (51)
I'm here for the litter box. I'm hoping it's an actual litter box. My fiance's cats box is getting out of hand lol
LOL - time to upgrade your box with a Raspberry Pi.
I need to. I'll get it to send her a message every time a cat uses it. Maybe she'll remember to change it.
I was just thinking that! lol
🥰🥰🥰🥰
This talk was amazing! I literally have a BUNCH of breadboards and wires and Raspberry Pis and it's all sitting 'cause of an emotional block. You really helped me be inspired to try try again. Josh, thank you.
Amazing! Yes! You need to break those boards out again and make some cool stuff! <3
Oh my gosh - I look like a hipster mime!
It is a really nice advice, imagine that you want to get involved into IoT, you have to learn about hardware and also a new language,
It is easier to learn IoT by get focus into learn the hardware behavior and once you understand it, you could learn a high level lang like c++ (if you want).
In that way you don't have to get stressed to learn all at the same time.
Javier - so glad that you agree! Just do what works best for you! 🥰
Do you have any resources for things like hardware to get started with some super basic stuff? I just want to make something silly and fun. You've got me feeling inspired. I want to bring the fun back to learning code, I've been so focused on the job hunt and "ideal" portfolio projects and it's been really getting me down to be honest.
This is totally my personal opinion, but I would recommend starting with a Raspberry Pi - it's a Ubunutu lite experience. There are a million Rasp Pi guides and projects. I would recommend finding an interesting project and trying to follow along!
pimylifeup.com/category/projects/
I have 3 cats and volunteer with a rescue. I love this and I'm committing to using "moisture event" in any further conversations about cat pee.
LOL - YOU NEED TO MAKE THAT!
I do! Also a hairball detector for regurgitation events.
LOL - you are full of great ideas!
This talk is not good – it's GREAT!
Specifically: I think practical (simple) case studies are the best way to introduce someone to a new piece of tech
YES! I'm glad that you think so too. I feel like learning gets too abstract if you don't have a concrete project to anchor it.
Brain - LOL - you're the best! Thank you so much for coming! I appreciate you so much! <3
😂How exciting that right after I find your tiktoks you're doing this awesome talk
Oh my gosh! thank you!
My first coding "task" was to make a Raspberry Pi bot to tweet my boss the temperature of his office before he got to work. Strange request, but I learned a lot about IoT though building it!
LOL - OMG - This is a great idea!
Coding really comes alive for newbies, kids especially, when they can physically SEE and INTERACT with their code. IOT projects are perfect for this!
I totally agree! It's so much easier to get excited when you can hold and touch it!
This was so cool, and I don't even have a cat!
hahaha - I'm sure you'll think of something cool to make an IoT project about!
This was an awesome talk! I'm inspired to go try building an IoT project, just because.
YAY!
Hearts at Joe!
You're the best - thank you so much for joining us!
Looking forward to this! johnny-five is live!
YES! Paul - you're the best! Thank you so much for coming! I appreciate you so much! <3
So amazing, Joe!
Scooter- you're the best! Love that we moved from Twitter friends to Dev.to friends! Thank you so much for coming! I appreciate you so much! <3
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